


Dawn Patrol

by epersonae



Series: The Journal-Keeper [10]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Beach year, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Massage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 19:50:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11675901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epersonae/pseuds/epersonae
Summary: Just a bit of Beach Year fluff. Lucretia goes for a swim. Magnus gets a little handsy, but not too handsy.





	Dawn Patrol

**Author's Note:**

> You know what goes really well with this story? [No Dogs On The Beach](https://soundcloud.com/griffinmcelroy/no-dogs-on-the-beach)

Lucretia got into the habit of waking up when Taako got up for “dawn patrol”, aka surfing and swimming lessons with Barry. She slipped on her bathing suit and wrapped a towel around her waist, leaving it neatly folded on the sand up above the highwater mark, under a little copse of trees.

While they were in the big waves near the shore, she went out past the break and swam parallel to the shore. She could still feel the swells, but they were slow and steady enough to allow her to swim among the fish above the reef. She paddled back and forth in the morning quiet until she was pleasantly sore. The exercise kept her mind fresh for the painting or writing that filled most of her days. 

One morning, when she came back to where she'd left her towel, she found Magnus sitting beside it, his knees clasped to his chest. He smiled up at her. 

“How's the water?”

“Good. How's the beach?”

“It's got a nice view.”

She looked back out to the ocean, where Taako sat astride his surfboard, shouting encouragements at Barry. 

“I suppose,” she said. 

He laughed, unfurling her towel and laying it longways in front of him. 

“C’mere, Lucretia. I bet you need a backrub after all that work.”

“Oh, I don't know….”

“Sure, you say that, but consider: backrub?”

She laughed and sat down. He sat cross-legged behind her and began rubbing first her neck, then the tops of her shoulders. 

“Between the writing and the swimming, you've got stronger shoulders than anyone I've ever known who wasn't a fighter,” he said, rubbing a thumb along the muscle. “You could take a lot of folks with those arms.”

“Maybe you should train me for real instead of jumping out from behind things shouting your name.”

“Maybe I should.” He moved down her shoulder blades with his palms, kneading either side of her spine with his thumbs. “Here, lay down, I want to get a better angle on your lower back.” She stretched out on her stomach on the towel. He hummed a little tune while he massaged her lower back, then went back over her shoulders, up her neck, down one arm. She gasped a bit when he gripped her wrist. 

“Too much?”

“No, it's just a little intense.”

He said “okay,” but also let up a bit and focused instead on her hands and fingers. 

“Mmmmm, Magnus.”

“Yup.”

“That's nice.”

“I bet.”

He laid down that hand and moved around to the other side, worked the other arm, the other hand. 

“Legs?” he asked. 

She just let out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a moan. He chuckled, his warm hand resting on the small of her back. 

“I'll take that as a yes.” With his hands and forearms he worked his way down the backs of her thighs. She huffed out a little breath. He paused. 

“More.”

So he kept going, working the knots out of her sore muscles, then setting her feet in his lap and massaging her calves. She drifted into a half-sleep as he rubbed her feet, gently twisting and caressing them. 

“Get a look at these two, Barrold, you could learn a few things. I mean, no shame. Just kids foolin’ around.”

“Jeez, Taako, it's only a massage.”

“Sure, Maggie. We all know what a good backrub leads to, especially when Handsy Burnsides is involved.”

Taako continued up the beach, pontificating as Barry trailed nervously behind him. 

Lucretia giggled sleepily. 

“Handsy?” she mumbled into her towel. 

Magnus shrugged. 

“Dunno what he's talking about.”

“Well, you do have nice hands.”

“Turn over and I'll keep going?”

She flipped onto her back and he started back up her legs. She winced as he pushed his thumbs along the front of her calf. 

“Are you stretching after you swim?”

“Mm.”

“How ’bout I stretch with you in the morning, and then massage?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Gotta take care of these pretty legs.” He leaned over and kissed one knee. She sighed. For a second, she considered saying something about their strange unaging bodies, but she let it go. Better to focus on his hands on her thighs, the strong touch working out the soreness from the morning's swim. 

His thumb brushed her hip bone and she gave a sharp intake of breath. 

“You ok?”

A smile played across her face. 

“Yeah, it's… Nice.”

“Oh, you like that?” He rested a hand lightly on the top of her leg, his fingers barely touching the soft skin of her inner thigh. She shivered. “Well, let me finish up this massage and then we'll see….”

“Magnus.”

“Mm-hmmm.”

His skimmed her belly with his fingertips, then gently massaged her ribs until she relaxed again under his touch. He kneeled beside her and lifted her shoulders from below. As he let her back down, his thumbs brushed her sides. She let out a short breath.

“You keep doing that,” she said.

“Do I?” he said. She bit her lip as she looked up at him, smiling lazily down at her. “How about I work on your neck again?”

“Okay.”

He moved again, sitting cross-legged behind her head, and put her head in his lap. His big hands worked either side of her neck, and his fingers rubbed up her scalp and ran through her hair. She closed her eyes again, letting herself drift in his hands. 

When she opened them again, he had stopped moving and he was looking at her with a soft shy smile. 

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. She reached up and touched his cheek. 

“Thanks,” she said. 

“No, thank you.”

They stayed like that for a long time, as the sun rose in the sky and the waves crashed against the shore, neither of them wanting to move or break that moment. 

**Author's Note:**

> With love to the usual suspects. Look, I wrote a fluff!


End file.
